vistacityfandomcom-20200215-history
World Politics
USA Former President Josiah Bartlet --''' (2001-2009) Team Blue Bartlet was a gnostic president He has over seen the successful resolution of the Meteor Crisis, and hosted the World's first alien contact. He set up the Warp Drive Project. He wryly commented that he seems to be constantly pinning medals on Steven Ashby. Now gently aging into elder statesmanship. A visit to the National Cathedral during the Healing Wave took care of his Parkinson's disease. In the Know, semi Trusted 'Congressman Bill Buttkics --' Team Red Anti science Congressman from Kansas. Unfamiliar with basic physics or scientific knowledge and proud of it. ('Anti-know, untrusted'' 'Congressman John Conem --' Team Blue Michigan. Yellow dog Liberal. Openly for rights and fiscal common sense unless the pork lands in his district. Not in the Know, not trusted. 'Laura Dickson --' Team Blue. Instant success in politics. Party line California liberal. Long Beach California CD 37. 'Senator Billy Bob Hawkins --' Team Blue Texas. First politician to hire an Ane to get him about. Fairly open minded and practical. Not in the know, semi trusted 'Senator Samuel Numski --' Team Blue Arkansas. Stupid get that does not understand science or space and distrusts both. Anti-know, untrusted 'Senator Mary Porcrin --' Team Red North Dakota. Strong Them versus Us type. Not in the know, untrusted 'Senator Byrion T. Rawlings --' Team Purple Montana. A raw boned, red necked rancher that has a low bullshit tolerance. In the 1980s he shot down a UFO with a nitro express. Caught the buggers red handed at cattle mutilation. This got him "in the know". This has served B-13 well as Mr Rawlings is now a US Senator. Rawlings might have a red neck, but he also has a brain, and knows how to use it. B-13 'President Robert M. Russel--' (Term 2009-2012) Team Blue Russel is the hand picked successor to Bartlet. He is more of a practical politician less of an idealist, but he is not messing with something that works. Robert is a go getter. He first impresses people as a sort of shallow used car salesman kind of politician, He has a quick smile and a firm handshake for everyone. Get him out of the spot light and he stops running for office. Underneath the shallow politician is a man of considerable learning and tolerance. He is not hasty to make a call on something, he wants the facts. He despises yes men and telling him a pleasant lie is the quickest way to get fired. Some people have compared him to a thinner and slightly less profane LBJ. It is not a comparison that he feels flatters him, but it isn't totally inaccurate either. President Russel has presidential firsts. He is the first president to visit another world when he was taken to the Ane worlds of El Nanth via the express. Secret Service agents not yet born had heart attacks over that. In the know, semi-trusted 'Fred Wanabee --' Team Red candidate for POTUS. Gays and non Christians are destroying our nation. Doing way better in the polls and primaries than his platform should allow for. Holds no office. Former preacher turned politician. Oral Robbers University, BS, MBA and DD. Beats the Radical Religious Team Red drum. Family man, four kids, supportive behind the scenes wife. No wants, no warrants, no record outside of a few traffic tickets. Pays his taxes, keeps his pecker in his pocket. Appears to live the life he preaches. He has been hitting the road in an old fashion stump speaking tour that would kill a normal man. Everywhere he goes he leaves a trail of support and enthusiasm behind him. Where he has not spoken, his support is lukewarm at best. He is working up to 2012. Team Maroon was founded as a vehicle to let him run. He declined to ride in it preferring a chance to win.. Not in the Know, untrusted ---- World East Africa Burundi Comoros Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia Kenya Currently making hay while the Ane shine. Hot on the whole new kinds of people thing. Kiongozi Shujaa is actually doing something positive for the country. The Government has been hauling in as much technology as anyone has been willing to give. The schools offered by the US? Wonderful. Fusion power plants for the country side? Sure, don't forget that Village. Frankly, being the center for peace joy and peoplehood is working for them. Shujaa is getting to line his pockets all while showing the world how open and accepting he is; all this while really being open and accepting. Win-win all the way. The Government has asked the Ane to patrol Kurger National Park and cut down on the poachers. As the poachers usually kill several of their own number a year the Ane are willingly helping out. Being a poacher is not worth the gelt these days. You get found and get found fast. With thousands of eyes watching, there is no place to hide. *Masikanietu'-- The Ansisi village is located in the Western part of the country. Masikanietu is no standout among savanna villages. They have a little more technology in terms of solar panels and a pump for the well, a well tended (and attended) school. They dress Masi fashion, but do not keep cattle other than goats. They are mainly farmers. Since the Ane came out they have gotten a fusion power plant. The Kenyan army keeps a subtle watch on the place, mainly to keep it from being over run. The difference is that the Ansisi are Human telepaths, and the Greyson gazelles that hang around (and in) the village are Ane. Ansisi have been hiding in plain sight for millennia. With the The Trial for Peoplehood the Ane and the Ansisi alike are out. The Fanboy tsunami has not quite materialized. Apparently a plane ticket to Kenya costs money. A substance Fanboys are notoriously short of. Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mayotte Mozambique Réunion Rwanda Seychelles Somalia Less a nation than an open wound. Greedy warlords see that Humanitarian aid lines their pockets, not the bellies of hungry children. The Somalia pirates are infamous, and dangerous. Under President Russel the US Navy has gone proactive on the pirates. Little boats are stopped and searched, if they have weapons they are arrested and the boat sunk. If they fire on a Navy vessel they are simply sunk. Motherships are sunk, no questions. Survivors are arrested. Hostage ships are retaken. We are sorry if anyone got killed, but no more ransoms, period. The SEALS are kept busy. India is backing this policy as are any of the Eastern African and Asian nations with any kind of merchant fleet. Many European nations are horrified, including the ones that use to hang pirates without trial. Between The US and allies, India, and Singapore, enough gunboats exist to patrol the entire horn within radar range of each other. SEAL and US Special forces raids have been taking the money back. A deaf ear is turned to those that wail about the thieves that suffer in these raids. Pirate ports have been bombed. There is no legitimate trade in these ports. The pirates are at war with the world, and some people are taking it seriously. Tanzania Struggling with Human rights and trying desperately to get a piece of the Ane pie. They are so close they have even been spotted in Tanzania but deal very cautiously with the government; which they openly state is far from ideal. Stop worrying about who has the power and deal. Tanzania is another country where they are trying monetize their wildlife and they are constantly trying to balance the needs of that resource with those of a desperately poor rural population. Like Kenya they have Ane patrolling the parks. Stopping poachers is in the Ane's best interest. Uganda Zambia Middle Africa Angola Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo Equatorial Guinea Gabon São Tomé and Príncipe Northern Africa Algeria Egypt Proceeding slowly on the energy front. First it must be determined if the new fusion power offends the Mullahs. A group easily offended if you wave at them with the wrong hand. Some members of the intelligence service are still freaked out by the healing wave. That would be those familiar with the 13th Crescent. They have seen the site, and it is vastly disturbing. Currently the Egyptian military is keeping anyone else from seeing it and will not explain to anyone why they will not let them see it. "Suffering" the Arab spring. The old order is swept away and it remains to be seen what the new order is. Libya Fading slowly into the sunset. With the demand for oil hitting an all time low Libya, never freedom's favorite nation has lost what little influence it had. Gadaffi is a cornered dog in his own little civil war. He is burning what resources the county has left on mercenaries. Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Southern Africa Botswana Lesotho Zimbabwe Namibia South Africa Keenly wanting what Kenya has (the Ane), however they are using the gold and diamond revenues they do have to build South Africa into the most modern state on the continent. They have made it quietly plain that if Kenya ever nuts up, the Ansisi and their friends are welcome to move south. The offer is being examined, not so much out of need but with the idea of splitting the physical population. The Ansisi have always limited their numbers due to limited land. Swaziland Western Africa Benin Burkina Faso Cape Verde Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast (In the Local French The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire) A country long torn by internal strife. The latest a war over the election results from the 2010 election that should have been held in 2005. The results didn't please the ruling party. Alassane Ouattara was finally inaugurated a year after he was elected. The violence has simmered down. The Ivory Coast has one of the strongest economies in Africa. Corruption and civil violence are the main impediments to it being a leading nation on the continent. They are not a signer of the SRA. The government as it was was no saint and the government as is is hardly prepared to make any such commitment. Liberia Mali Mauritania Niger Nigeria Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Senegal Sierra Leone Togo ---- Americas Antigua and Barbuda Argentina They are determined to be the economic powerhouse of the South. Argentina is getting its hands on as much technology as they can. Fusion is rapidly spreading form the cities an into the country side. Barbados Belize Bolivia Now that Chavee of Venezuela is dead Duran Moralless is running for buck-nuts socialist of the Americas. Close friends with the late Venezuelan would be dictator he is seeing enemies around every corner. The problem is the way he is reacting to this will assure he has enemies around every corner. Bolivia is ratcheting down on dissent. They have dropped a full point in the Sentient Rights Agreement scale. Otherwise it is a decent place to live. Brazil Canada Currently in the grip of the conservative arm of Canadian politics. The tone conservative or liberal is statist. Technological penetration is about equal to the US. Alberta is resisting the move away from oil. Actually trying to get a mandate for so much oil use. The rest of the country is not going along. Canada also has a strong urge to control the flow of information, mainly a very strong copyright lobby. They are getting the attention of the AI community. The urge to stifle dissent is also getting them negative attention from the SRA community. Normally a quiet nation that tends to follow the lead of the US or The United Kingdom they are quietly becoming more rigid in areas where significant opposition exists. Things could get noisy. Chile Chile is working to modernize. While among the leaders in South America they are not at first world standards. The government requires watching as it has proved instable in the past. Chile is attempting to leverage its limited resources into a robust 21st century nation. Colombia Still dealing with the US ''War on (some) Drugs. The cartels hold vast areas of the country side. Cocaine base is actually used as money. The drug cartels actually provide the services that the government never really did in those back water areas. They are sophisticated builders and planers. Actual submarines are being constructed to run the drugs to the US. Meanwhile the corrupt government is being propped up by the DEA because it cooperates with the DEA treating the country like its own private war games preserve. Costa Rica Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Falkland Islands French Guiana Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Rolling in Misery. Haiti is a nation destroyed. Between the politics the poverty and the earthquake, little is left to do or hope about. People shuffle through their lives trying to make a living of things while political strong men tussle with each other for the right to lord over the ruin. Good people do what they can around the politics. Honduras Jamaica One of the world's happy places. The law is not too heavy, the politics less corrupt than usual, the climate is pleasant and the people friendly. The people are spending those tourist dollars on fusion and desalination plants. Yes, reverse osmosis is inefficient. But when you filter that same water for the deuterium the keeps your powerplant running it suddenly gets a lot cheaper. An island with no raw materials or native power outside of wind and sun, fusion is their key to energy freedom. Mexico Mexico is in the throes of a revolution. The drug cartels have the police in their pockets and often are better armed than the army. Corruption makes the government a joke. The south of the country is about ready to divorce the north and try making it without them. The US with its drug laws is not improving things. Nicaragua Panama Chortling over fusion power. they are planning a parallel canal and have started digging. Fusion means they don't have to depend on gravity to power the water. Completion is estimated to be in 2016, at which time the original canal will be closed down and upgraded. The end result to be done in 2023 is a much larger parallel system, each serving one direction and allowing better than double the current traffic. Lights are planned to allow night navigation. All powered by plentiful sea water. Paraguay Peru Peru is coming out of a long period of conflict both internal and with its neighbors. There is still a dispute with Chile that has not been resolved. They are considered a developing nation with a high Human rights level. Peru is buying into as much of the new technology as it can get. The dichotomy between the cities and the rural areas is stunning. Fusion and krellite cells can change that. Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Sandwich Islands Suriname Trinidad and Tobago Uruguay Venezuela The civil war is winding down. The government is a coalition of city mayors that are holding things together until the elections. Oil production was damaged, and at the current market for oil it might not get repaired. The country is looking at a stark future as Chavee carelessly spent the oil boom money on keeping people complacent and not on actually improving anything. They are broke, damaged, and no more money is coming in. ---- Central Asia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Eastern Asia Beijing Municipality (People's Republic of China) The only thing holding this city together is size. The fact that it is a transportation hub is the only reason that people even go there unless they live there. Beijing exists under the delusion that it controls China. The minor underlings that are what is left of the Maoist government blithely go about issuing directives and orders that get totally ignored. The city itself has slipped back into the 19th century technology wise. It is bleeding people. The airports do not function for lack of modern traffic control. The government, still pretending that the socialist state exists is still denied any computer more complex than an abacus, and the cops have to carry billy clubs. The Citizens have guns. "Greater China" The Maoist government is gone. The means of governing destroyed; the Red Army rendered impotent; the government in Beijing simply stopped being relevant in the lives of anyone. Tibet, Manchuria and other "captive regions" have broken away and turned their back on the idea of China. Hong Kong, and Manchu are business as usual. The city of Shanghai is taking ruthless advantage of the current situation. Various local groups have taken up the functions of government from ad hoc village councils to corporations. Ane, AKA "Magical Antelopes]" continue to advise and suggest to local peoples how to deal with the sudden lack of governmental control. The Chinese themselves have not ignored the new technology. Fusion reactors, many made in Japan are coming into the country as quickly as people can get them. Entire towns have gone off the grid, and with the current state of the government off the radar. Hong Kong City State Grinning and diving into making all the money they can. With the threat of Beijing off their necks Hong Kong is beholden to no one. They like it that way. The City state prospers. It is a near true free market. Money has been spent on fusion plants, on krellite cells for cars and buses, for tri-logic computers. What was one of the most polluted spots in the world is cleaning up. Hong Kong is pushing for 100% energy independence in 3 years. No oil, no coal, no gas. The first all fusion-electric nation in the world. Japan Taking everything they can get of the new technology with both hands. Fusion is salvation. Japanese oil imports have dropped to the point of feeding the plastics and rubber industry only. Oil is no longer burned in the country. Natural gas and propane are still significant power sources and fission plants are being closed. In the case of Fukushima it went off line just in time for the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Experts say the damage done to the plant would have precipitated a disaster if it had been critical at the time. The government has signed the SRA. the whaling fleet lies rusting at the bottom of the harbor, and the expense of replacing it is simply not worth the time, effort, money, and bad will it would generate. The owners are still arguing with the insurance companies over the insurance. From every evidence the fleet was scuttled, not covered. Aliens in Popular Culture Japan is of two minds on the Ane. The popular culture has grabbed them and given them the usual Japanese popular culture treatment. They appear as dolls, Anime and Magna characters. Solid blue contacts, wearable horns, black noses, even tails are seen on the public streets. Ane are kawaii all the way. Other Aliens are starting to impinge on the Japanese conciseness as well. The Dragon-like Sauroi are popular, even if local examples are rare. Vulcans and the stoic attitudes are likewise getting Japanized. Vulcans will not recognize themselves. Vulcans and Elves are getting conflated with each other in the popular culture. Leomans are very big. Even though the Leomans were only briefly seen they are now wise counselors and fearless warriors. If this bears any resemblance to the truth it is strictly an accident. Phoenixes are also popular as are the half Phoenixes. In this case the reported attributes are closer to the popular view. Again, not from any effort on anyones' part. Centaurs have not grabbed the popular imagination. All things considered perhaps the Centaurs should be glad of it. Macau City State Similar to Hong Kong but with a Portuguese flavor and gambling. With the failure of the Beijing government they shrugged and kept stepping. It had never been that important to them and more of a worry than anything positive. One never knew when the barely controlled Chaos that was Mancu would finally become too much and Beijing would pull in the reins. That issue is off the plate. Mongolia North Korea Slipping further and further from reality. The average subject has not a clue as to what is happening in the world. Kim Jong-il is dead. The official news report stated he ascended bodily to Heaven. Intelligence is tossing the term "phaser ascension" around. Kim Jong-un is the author of dozens of impossible accomplishments. And the new head of the nation. It remains to be seen if he is as bat-shit crazy as his Father. One result of the loss of the Chinese Red Army is the border with China has become openly permeable. While the North Korean Army continues to pretend to guard it and most people pretend they do, anyone that wishes to get across can. North Korea is losing people at a steady rate. Republic of China (Taiwan) Ding dong the witch is dead! Taiwan can hardly believe their luck. The "People's Republic" imploded on itself. They have wiped that dust from their heels and set about making money. Taiwan is either number four of five on the Asian nations that are grabbing as much of the fusion electric pie as they can. Due to ties with the US it is General Electric reactors not Mitsubishi. Something for which the US is thankful. Shanghai City State The largest city in China at the time of the China-Ane unwar and one of the most independent. With her economic strength in financial markets Shanghai turned its back on the Maoist government and continued business as usual. It was already administered as a separate province, the ad hoc administration just picked up the pieces where they were and dealt with it. With access to the sea assured and a good airport they just ignored Beijing. With corporate control of civil services the city never missed beat. People utterly failed to notice that directives from Beijing had stopped happening. It remains to be seen what kind of government will grow out of this ad hoc start, businesses assuming the reins to keep the city running. Rest assured many people are watching. Some are watching very fearfully. South Korea Like Japan they are grabbing all the new technology they can with both hands and their teeth. Politics has changed little. They warily watch the North and hope for the best. Southern Asia Afghanistan The lights have gone out. What light and hope this nation had for a future has been extinguished by the Taliban and their idea of Arrogant Ignorance. Currently the only aid going in is an effort to get young women out. Being female is all but illegal there. Bangladesh Still fighting poverty and the Brahmaputra, Ganges, and Meghna rivers. Nearly all of the country is a flood plain. Very fertile farm land, but a bad monsoon season can kill tens of thousands. They are building fusion reactors as they can, they truly are dirt poor. Bhutan India India is losing its top spot as the world's call center. Wages along with the technology are going up. Indians want their own car and computers, not to mention refrigerators, dishwashers, and other toys of the modern house. Indian heavy industry has already geared up to make the fusion reactor locally. Such a large nation is difficult to paint with a broad brush. the major cities are not the rural areas. Technology still varies widely and clean drinking water is still a concern for many Indians. India is a country that is still dealing with starvation, and a growing obesity problem. India is still the center of ship breaking and not a very clean version of it either. As the standard of living improves demands that all working conditions improve are becoming stronger. Maldives Nepal The sleepy little nation at the top of the world. Aliens, technology, and recent events have made little impact on this rural mountain nation. Some awareness is seeping into the few cities. Kathmandu has satellite service. Fusion reactors have yet to make it up there. Pakistan Pakistan is a war with itself. The Taliban having destroyed Afghanistan are looking to spread their poison. the Army is quiescent the Government officially against the idea but firmly in the pockets of the Army. Only the will of the people will keep the lights from going out. Sri Lanka Dealing with the uneasy peace forged with the Tamil rebels. They are an unrich nation, uneasy with themselves trying to get the tools of modern life. In this case, fusion. Fusion means less dependence on outside energy, more schools more hospitals. There is as usual grumbling that the governmental money goes to the cities and ignores the rural population. Tibet With Tibet being free of the Chinese yoke the Dali Llama has taken the enlightened path of declining to return as the political leader of the country. He has urged the people of Tibet to choose wisely how they will rule themselves. When this is done he will return to his spiritual home, never again in this life or any other to hold political power. Tibet itself is struggling to take nothing and make a modern nation of the same. They have no objection to technology. It only requires money. Southeast Asia Brunei Burma (Myanmar) Not a signer of the SRA Myanmar is still struggling under the burdens of ethic tension, child labor, and Human trafficking. Rights are thin on the ground even with the successful elections of 2010. Some private efforts to update the energy situation have been made but thus far they are too little to make a difference in the country at large. It remains to be seen if they can bootstrap themselves to a better place in the world. Cambodia East Timor (Timor-Leste Indonesia Indonesia is a widely spread and diverse county occupying several islands. The central government is desperately trying to make Islam the rule and law of the land, with mixed and usually not good results. Increasingly shrill behavior is also driving away the investment they need to modernize. Internal radical elements all to willing to engage in terrorism do not help. Indonesia is among the loudest of the nations demanding the Ane be declared a world resource. They want the fuzzy four legged things forced to bow to the needs of poor nations, not be the toy of the rich and powerful. They obviously have not investigated the facts or don't care about them. Laos Malaysia Philippines Singapore Like Japan grabbing all the fusion tech they can. The island country has lots of deuterium, but nothing in the way of other energy resources. Nothing else has really changed. They accepted the Sentient Rights Agreement, it doesn't really affect them. The attitude being yea, sure; show us the money. Thailand Vietnam Western Asia Armenia Azerbaijan One of the former Soviet republics, Azerbaijan is a secular and a unitary republic with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. A nation with a majority Turkic and Shia population. The are openly a democratic nation, but irregularities in the elections casts some serious doubt, such as the opposition party not winning a single seat in the legislature during the last elections. Oil money has managed to lobby against the adoption of fusion to any degree. Inflation and a stagnating economy are eating at the nation. Bahrain Georgia Iraq With the old dictator Husein aging away since his spanking at the hands of the Coalition in '91 and with the falling price of oil cutting into his budget Iraq finds itself without friends or the ability to buy them. Its military was gutted in '91. Husein's antics have caused an accelerated brain drain from the county. His increasing jealousy of anyone more competent than himself means that Iraq is rapidly descending to a poor third world nation...again. Iran Iran is fading away on the world stage. In the firm control of the clerics, and now with their new overseer of their own creation the AI Muhammad's Disciple even the upper echelons of power cannot get away with anything. Religious hanky panky is forbidden, but dissent is not. Be very careful what you ask for. Politically the president keeps opening his mouth and making the world laugh. Claiming that Europe is stealing the rain is his latest pronouncement. The other is declaring that Iran will unplug the Internet in two years because they will have their own. Obviously the laughter is getting back to the people. Like the other major oil producers Iran is suffering the plunge in oil prices. Their various weapons programs are on hold due to the lack of funds. Amid all this they have Koranic scholars poring over the pages looking for some indication as to how aliens fit into the scheme of things. So far the head banging has produced nothing. They are withholding comment on any alien until they have a firm fatwa on the matter. Israel Sucking down technology as fast as they can suck. Also still sucking on the whole "I'll stop when you stop" conflict thing. They signed the SRA. They have not lived up to it. The Ane are starting to chide, and withhold services. Israel is on the verge of being the first nation kicked out of the SRA. Jordan Trying like Hell to get fusion power. They don't have the money of their oil rich neighbors. They are scraping the bottom of the barrel to get out of the vicious cycle. They are also trying to stay uninvolved in the local politics. Jordan signed the SRA and so far looks to be trying to live up to it. The King and his wife are progressive persons, ill-liked in the radical Islamicists' courts. They are using Ane; mainly as eyes and ears. As the King's purpose is the betterment of the people of Jordan he is getting cut rates. Kuwait Having pulled itself back together since the gulf war of 1991 Kuwait is struggling with the forces within itself. Falling oil means the control is fading. The Youth want a say, the clerics want control and the Emir is juggling as fast as he can. Something has to give. Lebanon This is not a nation, it is a shell of a nation propped up by Syria as a deniable means to attack Israel. Syria pulls all the strings and only a fool or the Syrian government thinks it looks otherwise. The losers are the Lebanese themselves that get used as a punching bag by Israel every time Syria stirs things up but have no say in the matter. Oman Qatar A mix of the old, the new, the liberal, and the near medieval. Qatar is a spit of sand with nothing but oil. Prior to the fusion revolution they had the second highest per capita income in the middle east. On one hand they treat their women more like people but have guest worker laws akin to slavery. They are one of the few absolute monarchies left in the world. The current Emir, Sheikh Hamma bin Khalifa Al Thadi is quickly seeing that civil reforms are solid and permanent at least for his own people. He can see the walls coming down all around him, and his one outside ally, the United States, has been drifting away to shinyer interests. They were refused membership in the SRA due to the guest worker laws and the form of government. So far that is more important to them than access to Ane. Saudi Arabia Stumbling. Oil revenue is dropping like an unpowered brick in the air. The money that was suppose to last forever is drying up. They have spent little on infrastructure or other means of producing revenue. The grim, grim reaper is sharping his scythe; and the writing on the wall is there to read. Without their fingers around the balls of world energy they are as important as used toilet paper. As a result the religious police have basically declared war on women. Someone needs blaming and the clerics are taking out out on the easy target, not the right one; typical. The King is sorely regretting the agreement made with the devil to get his throne. He pushes back on the clergy at every place he thinks he can. They are just as determined to seen that everyone practices Islam as they see fit. It is only a matter of time before the idle, wealthy, and disillusioned youth rise up and smash everything. The country is one fed up person away from a full bore revolution. It will not be pretty. The Clerics have called on the Ane to be a world resource. Since the Koran does not mention them they are below people; a lessor creation and should have none of the prerogatives the infidel nations have allowed them. The King keeps telling them to shut up. Syria While not signers of the SRA they are constantly pointing at Israel and screaming "see, see?", while backhanding some inconvenient person into the political prison or worse. So nothing has changed. Iran had been funneling money to the Regime to keep it propped up, but Iran's oil money is drying up. The subsidies to be the Iranian attack dog are gone. The leadership sees no reason to invest in the new technology. It is easier to keep the peasantry decently oppressed and down on the farm with the lack of the old one. A decent excuse to use what money they do have on keeping on Israel's case. Various policy wonks are in serious doubt that the regime will wake up before the money is gone, the people are desperately unhappy, and their bodies adorn lampposts. With the Arab Spring rolling around that could be any day now as unrest is rising. Turkey Turkey is a nation quivering in place. The Government is slavishly secular, the only Islamic nation that is so, but Islamic belief and tradition carry much weight. They are looking at the new technologies with both anticipation and fear. They literally have one foot in modern Europe and one foot in Medieval Asia. They are torn between the bright and attractive Mediterranean world and the rural traditions. Turkey tried to sign the SRA. they were told their signature would not be accepted until they got out of Cyprus. United Arab Emirates Grabbing new technology with both hands thank you more please. Starkly aware that oil's day has come and gone they are building the infrastructure of the post oil era. More socially open than most of their neighbors it is working a bit better for them. Not every project has been golden. The speed of progress has not been kind in every respect. They are far from perfect in the civil rights department but far more open than the neighboring nations. They are not advertising for tourists and expecting women to wrap in bedsheets Muslim or not. Looking at you Saudi Arabia. Yemen If anything Saudi Arabia squared. The old men with the hookas are desperately trying to find something, anything, for the young bored and idle men of the country to do. Well something anything that doesn't involve giving them any freedom or say in the matter. Yemen has joined the list of Arabic nations coming apart at the seams. They have fighting in the streets and a long time dictator scrambling for his life. ---- Europe Albania Andorra One of the European pocket principalities that makes its money from tourism and being a tax haven. It has the curios position of having an elected co-prince, but not elected by the Andorran people. The President of France and the Bishop of Urgell in Spain are the co-princes. Neither does anything remotely like rule. With a decent economy and absolutely no native resources Andorra has embraced fusion and krellite. With a total population of under 100,000 a couple of fusion plants powers the whole of the country. Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Cyprus is still split between the indigenous population and the Turks. Turkey was refused membership in the SRA over this matter. Claims of this or that ethic group not getting enough political power fall on deaf ears. The native Cyprian government is a signer, but one observing more in the breach with a current score of two. The political situation is holding the nation back from the general progress around them. Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France France had an aggressive nuclear energy program before the coming of fusion. Fusion has been taken up with giddy delight. France funded the Orion II class Jules Verne. They are active and eager participants in the Warp Drive Project. Germany Germany is leveraging their technical acumen to best advantage. They have embraced fusion and space. German scientists are eager participators in the Warp Drive Project. Early even eager signers to the SRA like the American John Handcock they wrote real big so everyone would know that racism is dead. They use Ane in government and science as transportation mostly. Those wonderful science conferences are much easier without all the jet lag. The truth is that racism is no deader in Germany than other places. Sadly one skinhead is dead of said attitude. In trying to beat them into an Ane he got his face kicked in, literally. Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Republic of Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro The Netherlands A quiet country that never does make much noise. They are right in the thick of thing in grabbing all the tech they can. As a good deal of the country is below sea level dependable power is a literal mater of life and death. Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Russia is tittering between moving forward and moving back. The lost of Star City to the antimatter explosion set their technology efforts back in the most hideous way. The major of the "great minds" of the nation died in the split moment. They also lost the infrastructure of space flight knocking them out of the running. Russia no long had the money to freely spend to fix it. They have invested heavily in US built runway capable space craft while hiring engineers by the fist full from where ever they can get them. They have tossed in with the ESA on their Orion 2 ships. In spite of the set back they will not be counted down and out. They are building their own fusion plants. Oil is the monkey on their back as well. They are not a signer of the SRA. They read the thing and Puttin didn't like the part about the state not having rights. Hey, he stole the power honestly. Their tech recovery efforts are suffering for that. Russia is among the nations calling on the Ane to be a world resource without the SRA, but their tone is conciliatory rather than the usual accusatory, or militant stance. San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Quietly being Switzerland. They officially host the Vulcan Embassy. The Vulcans chose Switzerland because they have the least war of anyone. They are acquiring the efficient and non-polluting fusion and krellite cell technology everyone is gaga over. All without fuss or headlines. Ukraine United Kingdom Wallowing in the politics of the Nanny State. Anti nuclear parties have keep fusion out of the country for fear their corgis will grow five legs. Their scientists participate eagerly in the Warp Drive Project, but the fearful ninnies back home are retarding progress. Something has to give. The rest of Europe is enjoying lowering energy prices, while they are still stuck on increasingly expensive oil. Vatican City Being the Vatican, the world's only theocracy. The politics of the "nation" are those of Church dogma. They have no might out side of words. There modest score in the SRA is due solely to the totally mixed nature of the politics and religion. Vatican politics is mostly concerned with the day to day running of the tiny enclave. The majority of the employees live in Italy. It serves its function of keeping political pressure off the Pope. See also: Roman Catholic Church ---- Pacific Australia Australia is really two places. The people, open friendly and welcoming, and the Government, increasingly controlling, stick up the ass authoritarians. Australia is the land that famously burned all its guns (except for the government's) and experienced a 600% increase in violent crime. The Government wants to bring that experience to other aspects of Australian life. Australia is participating fully in the technology boom. They have money and they are spending it. The government is in a low key information war with an AI "Bunyip". They are losing and trying to maintain face. Efforts to find and destroy Bunyip have been fruitless. East Timor Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru New Zealand Bristles at the idea of being conflated with Australia. Their government has its own bone-headed we know better than you political types. They have been getting the sharp edge of Bunyip's wit. New Zealand is generally quiet on the world state. Live and let live except when some political wonk gets a bone up his butt or his fleecy girlfriend turns him down. Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tuvalu Vanuatu Category:Politics